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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27123220">Fragments</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Will_Keaton/pseuds/Will_Keaton'>Will_Keaton</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Metroid Series</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:34:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,720</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27123220</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Will_Keaton/pseuds/Will_Keaton</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>During the events of <i>Metroid Fusion<i>, Ridley finds himself being absorbed by the X Parasites.</i></i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Fragments</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I do not know what It is, this thing that holds me in Its clutches. Whatever It is I know only this for certain. It is everywhere. I don't just feel It around me, no, that hardly begins to describe Its presence. It saturates my body as though It was trying to digest me, I can feel It crawl under my skin, filling my lungs with Its being, seeping out through every pore in my body.</p><p>I try to move, but I cannot. My muscles no longer listen to me, they follow another master. This, thing. My mind stirs, trying to remember where I am, how I came here. But I cannot focus. I am not alone, even in my mind. It grows, gnawing at my consciousness like a starved beast.</p><p>It is alive. No. It is more than just alive. It thinks. I can feel It as It spreads, not just through my body but outside as well. Its life force grows, consuming everything within reach. And I can taste everything as it falls before the might of this unknown entity. It is hot. It is cold. It is wet. It is cloaked in darkness. It is everywhere.</p><p>Reach. Reach for the edge, the limit of Its territory, if such a thing even exists. Struggle, push beyond the walls that It has built. Touch the outside world.</p><p>Yes. I can feel it. Past the cold metal that this thing has engulfed I can feel a place where It does not grow. I know this place. This cold empty feeling. It is familiar, comforting even. I search for something more, but there isn't. Beyond Its grasp there only lies emptiness.</p><p>Space. That is where It stops, that is why It does not consume more. There is nothing beyond these walls but the cold empty vacuum of outer space. It is, quite literally, limited  by nothing.</p><p>Where am I then? This is not a planet, of this I am certain. It has no heartbeat, no soul. If it did I would taste it as it was devoured by that, thing. A ship then? Perhaps. This place certainly has an artificial flavour to it. It does not really matter I suppose. I cannot leave. It has me. My body is Its puppet and I can feel It once again thrust Itself into my mind. It desires knowledge, power. But that is not all. It wants ME. My thoughts, my memories, my very being. It wants to make me a part of Itself, wants to take everything that I am and add it to Its whole.</p><p>I do what I do best, what I have always done. I fight. My will won't be broken by this invader into my soul. I have fought my entire life and I have never failed to win.</p><p>With, of course, that one singular exception.</p><p>It quivers.</p><p>There is something else here. Like a bright light cutting through the darkness there is another presence that causes It to recoil. Whatever this new being is my captor slinks away from it leaving a hole where Its presence is no longer absolute. In my mind I smile. Though I am not usually one who clings to comforting notions I find it most pleasing to know that there is something that even It fears.</p><p>Again I can feel It quiver. The whole world quivers, for there is no world that exists beyond Its grasp. None that I can feel at least.</p><p>What is this new entity? This usurper who cuts a swath through Its territory? Before I even finish questioning I realize. I KNOW. It is a metroid. But how? How do I know? It's as if this knowledge has always been a part of me, like it was etched into my very DNA. I think for a moment and I realize. It is not me. It is that thing. My subjugator. It is the one who can feel the metroid, who knows it, who fears it. It pulls back as It has always done, seeking to escape Its eternal predator.</p><p>But this time It is different. It does not flee. This time It fights back. It has a new weapon, something that It feels It can use to destroy Its nemesis.</p><p>I feel as though I have been caught in the middle of a war. Again. Only this time I find I am NOT enjoying myself.</p><p>It is different, better, stronger than It has been before. But then It realizes something. So is this metroid. It too has changed, become something that it wasn't before. Curious.</p><p>I stretch my consciousness out towards the metroid. I try to push past Its influence so that I may see this new metroid. I can feel her move within the confines of the vessel that It know calls home.</p><p>Her? Yes. It is a her. A woman. Again I wonder, how do I know that? I look toward my omnipotent slaver, thinking perhaps It provided the answer. Then I realize. I know her, personally. Emotions swell up inside me. Rage. Hatred. Shame. Pain. I do not need my eyes or ears to identify her, every fiber of my being knows her simply by her presence.</p><p>Samus Aran.</p><p>Her presence triggers memories, so many memories. It looks through them, sorting them with no concern for my protests.</p><p>I see with perfect clarity the day we met. I see that innocent little child standing before me, asking to be friends. Great pleasure moves through me as I turn her simple smile into tears of the most bitter agony.</p><p>I see her standing before me again, now a young woman clad in that armour, standing in defiance of me. Does she truly believe she can defeat me? If she does then I will prove to her how wrong she is.</p><p>I lay on the ground in great pain. I look up to see the cliff I had fallen from. She cast me from that place up on high, again she bested me. Rain bounces off my metal skin as my chest burns with an intensity I cannot put into words.</p><p>I listen to his words as he makes his report. I hear the statistics and figures he cites. The number of dead, the ships lost, the damage to the network of tunnels that we had called home for so many years. Kraid had been attacked and was now badly wounded. Weavel was alive, but his body was damaged beyond all reason. Tourian was destroyed, as was Mother Brain and the metroid specimens. They tell me she had ended my life and that it was only through the most sophisticated technology I was brought back. Why? Why all this death and destruction? Because of me. Because I failed to kill a small, insignificant, three year old girl when she was standing right in front of me. All this death, this failure, it all rests on my shoulders. It shames me to the very core. I swear I will travel to the end of the universe if I have to in order to fix this one mistake.</p><p>Once again It, the world, quivers as the metroid, no, as the Hunter moves closer. What does this mean? What exactly is she? There is no question in my mind that this is Samus Aran, I know her far too well to mistake anyone, anything else for her. But It also senses Its nemesis. A metroid. That is what It smells, what It feels, what It fears. I ponder and I, no, we realize we are both right. She has changed. She has become some sort of hybrid creature. Beyond human, a fusion of her former self and the metroid.</p><p>And she is coming toward me. Toward us.</p><p>I can feel the power that It holds. Its potential is limitless, Its desire without boundaries. But still It fears her. It fears ONLY her.</p><p>I do not.</p><p>I can taste her. She is so close. Tantalizing thoughts of vengeance consume my brain. But still I cannot move. My body no longer belongs to me. It owns my flesh now. Oh, If I could only move again, the things I would do to her. Can't you see you fool? I am the only thing that can stop her. It is an unspoken law that we both know to be true. She is the only one who can kill me. I am the only one who can kill her. We have fought before, yes, and she has defeated me at every turn, this is true. Still, I know I can kill her. Call it fate, call it destiny, call it foolish if you wish but I know the two of us are intertwined so long as we both draw breath. I would do anything to have the chance to redeem myself. And unlike my captor I do not cringe before her presence.</p><p>What?</p><p>It desires something. Something from me. Not simply to consume me anymore, It wishes to share.</p><p>Yes. We both want the same thing. We want to see our nemesis destroyed. Kill the metroid. Kill the hunter. There is no difference. Then let me face her. You have powers beyond what most could comprehend. You can change, shape, remold anything with cell structure. Then remake me. I will kills Samus Aran even if I have to reformat my own DNA to do so.</p><p>It quivers. But this time there is no fear. It takes my body, sweeps it up and readies it for the confrontation. I, no we, will not fail. Not this time.</p><p>She approaches. Soon she is before me. Before Us. I feel our body contort, transform. I become something more than I was before, but at the same time I am much less. Merely a part of a larger whole. I am not in control of my own fate, but that does not concern me now. Our body twists and bends, growing, becoming something new. Our eyes open and we see her before us.</p><p>I have lost much today. But if I can do this one thing, If I can kill Samus Aran, it will all have been worth it.</p><p>We leap into the air. We swoop down upon her. In a moment she will be dead.</p><p>Vengeance is sweet.</p>
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